Vegetable Gardening
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Cooking, Recipes, Root Cellar Storage, Storing Winter Vegetables, Vegetable Gardening
Potato Leek Soup: The Antidote to Brrr ! Plus Tips on Storing Leeks in the Root Cellar…
Potato Leek Soup Brrr is certainly the word. It’s really cold here in the northeast. I keep hearing rumors of rising temperatures, but so far they are just that – rumors. I take comfort in the fact that there’s a good snow-cover insulating the garden, and inside, my wood stove is cranking out some serious […]
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Beneficial Animals and Insects, Books, Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, Insects/Entomology, Organic Disease Control, organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, Plant Science, Uncategorized, Vegetable Gardening
A New Year’s Resolution for Gardeners: Making Informed Choices About Gardening Practices and Products to Support a Healthy, Natural Environment…
We  ♥ Mother Earth The new year often brings about a desire for change and personal reckoning. We make promises, resolutions and plans to better ourselves and the world around us. Over the past couple of years, many people have committed to building environmentally conscious, self-sufficient lives. As a result, gardening, particularly vegetable gardening, has […]
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Cooking, Herb Gardening, House Plants, Indoor Gardening, Recipes, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening
Rosemary No-Knead Bread from the Windowsill Herb Garden …
Light snow is falling outside and the temperature here in Vermont is hovering around 30 degrees fahrenheit. A winter storm is expected tonight and it is predicted to continue throughout tomorrow. Meteorologists are promising us six to twelve inches of fluffy, new snow here in the Green Mountains. It sounds like I will be doing […]
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Apples, Cookbooks, Cooking, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening
Baby it’s Cold Outside! Warm Up a Bit – Sweet Butternut Squash Soup, with a Kiss of Apple Confit and Creme Fraiche…
Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Confit and and a dollop of Crème Fraîche… So what am I doing outside these days? Oh all sorts of last minute, before-the-snow-flies chores and holiday decorating. Up until today, it has been unseasonably warm in New England, and I have been delighting in the temperatures while gathering greenery and […]
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Books, Garden Design, Organic Disease Control, organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening
Cozying up by the Fire: Kitchen – Gardening Guide Books to Give or Get…
My favorite place to read: beside a glowing fire… The photograph above was taken last night from a favorite old chair, where I will be spending my leisure hours reading during the months of January and February. And although a few calendar weeks remain until winter officially begins in the northern hemisphere, I have already started […]
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Apples, Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Orchards / Orchard Keeping, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
Holiday Brunch from the Kitchen Garden and Local Orchard…
Heirloom Lady Apple and Yukon Gold Potato Fry… Anticipation is in the air. Twinkling lights. Aromatic, evergreen boughs. Crackling fires. Stories. There are so many simple things to love about the coming holiday season and winter months. For me, late morning breakfasts always top the December weekend-pleasures list. After a busy year, doesn’t it feel […]
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annuals, Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, Organic Disease Control, organic gardening, soil science, Vegetable Gardening
Rich, Beautiful, Dreamy Dirt…
A nice delicious bowl of…. dirt? Has someone been making mud-pies? Sometimes I think I got into gardening because I never grew up. Yes, I know, that is a silly photo. But I couldn’t help myself. All the cooking blogs and magazines showcase gorgeous, slightly-off center bowls filled with the most mouthwatering food. So I […]
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Bulbs, Cooking, Garlic, Great Blogs, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
A Thousand Mothers Set into the Earth: It’s Garlic Planting Season…
‘German Red ‘ garlic bulb from Wild Shepherd Farm, Athens, Vermont The ancient Greeks and Romans often called garlic the ‘stinking rose’, and in eastern Europe it is sometimes referred to as the ‘Russian penicillin’. Allium sativium has been praised for it’s worth by many as ‘better than a thousand mothers‘; blamed for bad breath, gas […]
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annuals, Cold Frame Construction, Garden Design, Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, organic gardening, Planting Techniques, soil science, Vegetable Gardening
Gardening Beyond the Harvest Moon: Extending the Growing Season with Hoop-House Cold Frames…
September’s Harvest Moon It may seem a little premature to be writing about cold frames and frost on a beautiful late summer day, (sunny with daytime temps in the 70’s here in Vermont). But the gorgeous Harvest Moon this past weekend served as a reminder that we are nearing the end of the growing season […]
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Cooking, organic gardening, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
Tears of Joy: In praise of the Onion…. and my favorite French Onion Soup!
Spanish Sweet and Stockton Red onions at Harvest If the end of summer is bittersweet, then I will credit the humble onion for some of the sugar. On a chilly autumn day, I am a complete pushover for a bowl of French Onion soup topped with a thick layer of gooey, delicious Gruyere cheese, (see […]
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Cocktails, Cooking, Herb Gardening, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Summertime Cocktails, Vegetable Gardening
Liquid Pleasures of the Late Summer Garden: Part Two, How I Came to Know the Cuban Mint Julep…
Mel’s Cuban Mint Julep/ AKA The Mojito I simply can not believe this is the last weekend of August. Where has the summer gone? Here in New England the weather pattern has shifted right on cue and the nights are already getting cooler. Geese are gathering on the water. Labor Day weekend and the Harvest […]
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Cooking, Herb Gardening, Perennial Close-Ups, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
Liquid Pleasures from the Late Summer Garden. Part One: Keeping Cool with Lemon-Mint Sun Tea…
Lemon-Mint Sun Tea in the Garden The dog-days of summer have arrived, and it sure is hot outside today. Gardening is hard work, and it’s easy to over-do it on a sweltering day. Digging, weeding, dividing, lifting, mulching: all physically demanding tasks. In the summer, I always protect my head and skin with a straw […]
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Aletha Soule, annuals, companion planting, Cutting Garden, Fresh Cut Flowers, Garden Design, Great Growers and Nurseries, Richard Foye, Tim Geiss, Vegetable Gardening
Bringing Nature’s Beauty Indoors: Flowers Just for Cutting…
~ A bouquet of dahlia and calendula brightens my windowsill ~ One of the great pleasures of successful flower gardening is, of course, the access to seasonal, fresh cut flowers for the dinner table, desk and elsewhere in the home. I also really enjoy bringing an exotic bouquet to my host or hostess when I […]
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Cooking, Organic Disease Control, organic gardening, Plant Spotlight, Vegetable Gardening
Simple Pleasures & Hard Won Treasures
Salad of sun-ripened ‘Orange Blossom’ tomatoes and basil. The beautiful gunmetal-glaze plate is by artist Aletha Soule. There is nothing in this world quite like the flavor of a sun-ripened ‘Orange Blossom’ tomato picked fresh from the garden. For my lunch today I enjoyed a salad of home grown tomatoes and basil, seasoned with extra […]
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Beneficial Animals and Insects, Frogs and Toads, organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, snakes, Vegetable Gardening
Maybe the Princess was On to Something: A Gardener Falls in Love with Reptiles & Amphibians, Scales, Warts & All . . .
Photo â“’ Michaela at TGE While I have certainly kissed my fair share of frogs in life, I can not say that any of them turned into princes. However I have never tried to kiss the warty, slimy amphibians residing in my garden, so it may be that they are the true royalty after all. […]
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Cooking, Great Blogs, organic gardening, Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetable Gardening
Stop! Put Down That Hoe, and Let’s Eat! Great Food Blogs to Stir Your Imagination and Wet Your Appetite…
June harvest: red chard, arugula, oak leaf and red rumple lettuce.. As I walked back from my kitchen garden on this wet afternoon, colanders and baskets filled to the rim with chard for rissoto and mixed greens for salad, I felt a deep gratitude for all that I have in this life. I can not […]
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organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, Vegetable Gardening
Help, my garden has been slimed ! Organic methods for controlling slugs and snails…
S L U G S Â ! If you live in New England like I do, you are more than ready for a dose of sunshine ! The east coast has been having a long stretch of rainy weather this month, creating many wet-weather challenges for vegetable and flower gardeners. One of the most destructive groups […]
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Composting, Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, organic gardening, soil science, Vegetable Gardening
Composting Basics, for Beginners…
Compost Love Learning to make your own compost is one of the most economical and effective ways to build fertile, organic garden soil. Fortunately, it is also one of the simplest garden skills to learn. Plants grown in compost-supplemented soil tend to be stronger, healthier and more disease resistant. Organic garden compost adds valuable nutrients […]
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Annual Flowers, annuals, companion planting, Garden Science, Organic Disease Control, Organic Insect Control, Planting Techniques, Vegetable Gardening
Companion Planting in the Organic Vegetable Garden
Chives and thyme in the potager Companion planting is a very old-world, organic gardening method. Unfortunately, much companion planting knowledge has fallen out of use and favor in modern times due to a focus on efficiency. Of course on large farms efficiency is very important, but in a home garden I prefer to concentrate as […]
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Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, Planting Techniques, Vegetable Gardening
The Art & Science of Designing a Vegetable Garden…
Creating a beautiful and bountiful potager A vegetable garden can be an incredible source of pleasure. Â Every sunny morning, my four-legged companions and I take a walk to the potager where we enjoy each other’s company while I sip my morning coffee. Â I like to start my day listening to the mocking bird and watching […]
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